Well, for the last couple of days I’ve been having a little bit of a back and forth with the local health authority trying to gain more knowledge about Medical Assistance in Dying.
The actual dying process I understand.
But it’s all the other matters surrounding my death that I definitely need to start planning for.
I need a will.
I had never really thought about that.
I was planning on giving my belongings away to those who wanted them. It’s not like I need to take money into the afterlife. But, to prevent squabbles, I was told to get a will and put everything in writing.
Really, my will would come down to who gets my ebike, who gets my motorcycle, who gets my computers.
My pension and other benefits would be handled via the instructions on my policies.
Other than that, I have nothing.
No property, no assets, zip, zilch, nada.
I guess depression and anxiety always kept me anchored in the here and now.
It’s not like I don’t have savings or other financial instruments. It’s just that I never had any desire to collect things like cards, or cars, or motorcycles, or homes, or condos.
When you have severe and deep depression you’re not really looking into the future as you’re expecting to die any day.
My affairs will be pretty simple, except for my brother there’s no next of kin or any other “family” that I have to worry about appeasing, so no “Game of Thrones” type family politics.
Needing a will is apparently even true for the disposal of my body.
It’s not enough to sign forms with medical schools and institutes expressing my desires for my body to go to medical research.
That has to go into a will as well.
One copy would go to a lawyer. One copy would go to my physician.
As I have no family or relations to rely on I need to go the extra step and arrange for the transfer of my body. As my death will be what is known as an “expected death” the coroner will not attend. Nor will my physician remove my body. Would look kinda funny with my doctor lugging my corpse down the elevator and then strapping it into the passenger seat of his car and driving it over to UBC. So that means that I have to make arrangements ahead of my death to have someone remove my body and deliver my body where it needs to go.
Thankfully the IV method is available at home.
It turns out that whether I use the oral method or the IV method, both methods require the attendance of a physician or a nurse practitioner.
The nice thing is that it was confirmed that if I want to die in my own bed in my apartment that I can do so.
And no. My landlord legally cannot prevent me from dying in my apartment.
I guess that once I pick a date and time I’ll have to notify the landlord. If I time everything correctly, there won’t be anything really to remove from my apartment. My Bed. Maybe some clothes.
No special cleaning of my apartment will be required because my body will be removed from my apartment before I even cool down to room temp.
Gotta be sure to close all of my financial accounts. Sure, I could leave everything open, but why be an asshole?
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A little fly landed into my ointment as I was writing this post.
I got a reply email from the body donation program at UBC. They’ll only accept whole body donations. They will not remove my brain and send it off to a different research lab.
So……. maybe I won’t be able to die at home in my own bed.
Shame. It’s a really nice and comfy one.
I might have to go die in Montreal if I want my brain to go to the research lab that I have in mind which would be an adventure in itself. I have been to Montreal a couple of times. Renting an apartment for a couple of months might be in the cards.
Now, if I do have to end up going to Montreal to die that changes what I do with the rest of my body.
I’ve always been intrigued with the concept of giving my body to a “body farm”. And so far Canada only has one body farm in operation and that’s also in La belle province.
As I said, I had never really put any thought into my death. And now that I can see my death within my near future, there sure are a lot of matters to iron out.
Beeshive 